A NEUROLOGICAL BASIS FOR VISUAL DISCOMFORT

TLDR

Certain striped patterns that elicit color, shape, and motion illusory perceptions are perceived as unpleasant and share spatial and contrast parameters with photosensitive epilepsy EEG abnormalities, occurring under similar viewing conditions. Individuals with frequent headaches experience more of these illusory perceptions, and when pain is consistently unilateral, the phenomena are similarly lateralized.

Abstract

Certain patterns of stripes are judged to be unpleasant to look at. They include illusions of colour, shape and motion that are sometimes perceived predominantly to one side of fixation. People who suffer frequent headaches tend to report more illusions, and if the pain consistently occurs on the samer side of the head the phenomena tend to be lateralized. The parameters of the patterns that induce revelations (including their shape, spatial frequency, duty cycle, contrast and cortical representation) closely resemble those that epileptiform electroencephalographic abnormalities in patients with photosensitive epilepsy. The viewing conditions under which such abnormalities are likely to appear are also those under which more revelations are seen.